For all you foreign movie fans, maybe you can explain to me why if a movie is "foreign", "independent", or subtitled it automatically gets spotted a handicap of 3 or 4 stars, whereas if it came out of hollywood, everyone would agree it's pretty mediocre.

Howsabout sharing your opinion/reviews with your fellow burners so as to help us avoid wasting our money and a couple hours out of our lives and the third eventual certainty for those of us who live in helLA- parking tickets.

With that in mind, I'd like to offer my opinions on two movies I saw fairly recently; Whalerider and Carnage.

Whalerider was cool, a very mellow journey through a different culture.

Carnage was a series of totally unrelated subplots linked together via the carnage of a bullfight. When it ended, I was left with one question blinking away in my mind like a neon sign; "so what?". It was billed as a comedy, and while there were a couple slightly humorous moments, there was nothing I or anyone else in the room laughed out loud at.

The trailer for "The revolution will not be televised" looked very cool though. Here's the synopsis;

HUGO CHAVEZ, ELECTED PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA IN 1998, IS A COLORFUL, UNPREDICTABLE FOLK HERO, beloved by his nation’s working class – and a tough-as-nails, quixotic opponent to the power structure that would see him deposed. Two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace on April 11, 2002, when he was forcibly removed from office. They were also present 48 hours later when, remarkably, he returned to power amid cheering aides. Their film records what was probably history’s shortest-lived coup d’état It’s a unique document about political muscle and an extraordinary portrait of the man The Wall Street Journal credits with making Venezuela “Washington’s biggest Latin American headache after the old standby, Cuba.”

Exceptionally well done and high quality everything, but somehow it didn't really light a fire under me. YMMV, and if you're in the mood for a sea cruise with adventure, this will definitely fill that need without ever having to step off dry land.

Highlights include a trip to the Galapagos Islands, and a realistic interpretation of life in that era. Characters were well developed, not the cookie-cutter crap hollywood belches up on an all too regular basis. And of course the battles.

Out of five stars, 3. Not a negative review, just saying if you're not a Russel Crow fan and there's stuff you'd rather see, that's my opinion.

Last edited by aforceforgood on Sun Nov 30, 2003 2:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I would concur with the above review, though maybe giving it 3.5 stars. The aspect of the plot that surprised me was the age spread of the officer types on the British ship. About 12 and up. What we would consider children are fighting and being put in positions of responsibility. Quite an eye opener.